Friday, December 19, 2014

Today's Fabergé object - a brooch. Made by workmaster Anna Ringe, sometime between 1908 and 1917!

The brooch is lozenge-shaped, and covered in lavender purple enamel over a guilloché ground. The edges are gold, and in the center of it all sits a bezel-set diamond. The width of the brooch is 1.9'' (4.9 cm), and the prize for it is 4,900 USD. You find it at Romanov Russia!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

CHROMAT - Structural Experiments for the Human Bodyis a lingerie/swimwear/fashion brand started up in 2010 by Becca McCharen. She has a degree in architecture, and took her interest in scaffolding, city maps, wearable exoskeletons and the intricacies of lingerie and brought all this together into fashion. The result is several collections of wearable architecture. I just stumbled upon CHROMAT and think it's fantastic! Here are a few of my favorites. For more, visit CHROMAT's website here!

Monday, December 15, 2014

Artist Hamish Blakelycounts Caravaggio, Degas, and Velázquezas a few of the painters he is inspired by. And for anyone who has studied art, you can see similarities between these old painters and the work of Blakely. But he doesn't copy his inspirers. He takes a bit here and there, mix it on his palette, and creates his very own style on the canvas. He says that "Each bare canvas brings enough self doubt and nerves to keep me on my toes every time. I splodge the paint and hope that I win the battle as sometimes the brushes and paint have their own peculiar ideas about how things should look.". Well, I think his "splodges" turn out wonderfully in the end. Here is some of his work. For more, please visit his web site here!

Friday, December 12, 2014

Christmas is just around the corner, and one Christmas decoration I wouldn't mind putting on my mantlepiece - if I had a mantlepiece - is this Fabergé holly sprig! It was made by workmaster Henrik Wigström, around 1908!

The twig sits in a glass made of rock crystal, which emulates both the glass and the water in it. It has a stem made of gold, leaves of nephrite, and red purpurine berries. The dimensions of the piece is 5.6'' x 3.1'' x 3.1'' (14.1 x 8 x 8 cm), and it was purchased by Mrs George Keppelon a visit to Fabergé's shop in Londonwith Edward VIIin 1908. She was a long-time mistress of the king. Now it is part of the Royal Collection.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

I've posted photos by photographer Pelle Pianohere before, and shown you what a photoshop wizard he is. Now he has transformed a few of the photos he's taken of me into paintings. I think they're amazing, and it's almost scary what you can do with a computer these days... Oh well, here they are!

Monday, December 08, 2014

Shopping for Christmas gifts can be both fun and stressful. Ordering your presents online is a bit less stressful than running around town with all the other shoppers though. So here are a few tips for what to put under the tree!

Lady Love Song Dress in Merlot Velvet

Endless Enchantment Dress

Two gorgeous dresses perfect for both Christmas and New Years! Both are from ModCloth.

Stockings is something you always need more of - especially if you're into the vintage style, like me, and wear them on a daily basis. These are fully fashioned ones from What Katie Did!

You find all sorts of usable things in Mrs Murphy's webshop. This is a very good...um...water bottle, for example...

Jewelry from Garland Row. I really want one of these diamond studded star rings - in white gold - please...

We can never have too many pairs of shoes! These very 40s-looking babies are from Daisy Dapper!

The problem about doing these gift-help posts is that I end up wanting everything I write about myself! Think I need a glass of red wine and a massage now...

Friday, December 05, 2014

We still don't have any snow here in Stockholm, but I suspect it will get colder soon, and the water will start to freeze into ice. So with that in mind, here is today's Fabergé object - a seal on a piece of ice floe! It was created around the year 1900!

The little seal is carved from a piece of obsidian, which perfectly captures the wet sheen of the animal's body. The ice floe it is lying on is a piece of rock crystal. The dimensions of the piece are 2.5'' x 4.8'' x 3.1'' (6.4 x 12.3 x 7.8 cm), and it is part of the Royal Collection.

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

So, last Saturday I went to the big burlesque event Fräulein Frauke Presentsat Nalen. The theme this time was Victorian Asylum, so I decided to skip the fake lashes, done up hair, red lipstick, jewelry and pretty dress I usually wear for these parties, simply throw on an old night gown from the 30s, and go as a lunatic! Here I have to make a note of the fact that one of my followers on social media got really upset that I used the word lunatic to describe my character for this evening, because that's not a term you use for mentally ill persons anymore, and she asked me to "refrain from furthering harmful stereotypes". Of course I am fully aware of this, and I wouldn't actually call anyone a lunatic, but in my apology to her I explained that the theme for the night wasn't 2014 Psychiatric Hospital, but Victorian Asylum. In Victorian days these places were actually called Lunatic Asylums, and so I felt I had full right to use the term lunatic when describing myself that night! In these days of Political Correctness you have to be able to separate "real" words, actually written to describe someone's truth about something, and word-play used to just describe fiction - without being harmful - to stay sane. Excuse the ramble, just didn't want to upset anyone else's feelings with the words used in this post. Because since these parties are like masquerades, and masquerades are - infact - all about dressing up as stereotypes, and with the theme in mind there were several lunatics there, and freaks, and evil doctors, and nurses, and lots of other weirdos! And it was fabulous!!!

This is the 30s nightgown I wore. I got it from my grandma a long time ago. I tried to do a sickly-looking makeup, and people said I looked really scary, so I think I succeeded pretty well! Several people I went up to say "hi" to also said they didn't recognize me at first, so I guess this is a good incognito look for me. Haha!

Ziegfriedwas the evening's conférencière, and he looked very cute in his hospital gown...

And then there was the mysterious POP COB, who showed us how to make popcorn.

The performer who got the most sound out of the audience though (both sounds of horror, awe, and amusement), was The Baron. He holds the Guinness World Recordof having the strongest nipples on Earth, and he really showed what he could do by hanging heavy weights not only from his nipples, but also from his earlobes and eyes. Yes - eyes!!!

Watching the people in the audience at these events is a show in itself. And tonight there were all sorts of creatures fitting for a Victorian Asylum sharing the dance floors. These nurses were kind enough to give me some medicine! And here are a few more examples of what you could find a Nalen this evening...

Some people even had to be put in shackles...

Yours truly! I had no idea why people were looking at me so strangely on the subway...

And last, but certainly not least, John Paul Bichard - co-producer (together with Fräulein Frauke) of this insane evening, and also the photographer behind all these amazing pictures! To see all the photos, please go here!

Monday, December 01, 2014

American photographer Margaret Bourke-White(June 14, 1904 - August 27, 1971) was the first foreign photographer permitted to document Soviet industry after the revolution, the first American female war photojournalist, and the first female photographer for LIFE Magazine. But in 1936 she took her camera into a completely different war zone - the dressing room of burlesque dancers - and snapped a few interesting pictures of the so-called "Burlesque Strip-Steppers", back in the day when burlesque was still evolving. I love these photos...

The stage is being prepared at the French Casino.

This photo is entitled Backstage In a Degas Setting the Ballerinas of the Ballet Russe Pause.

If you happen to be in London, you can go to the Daniel Blaugallery, where an exhibition in honor of Bourke-White takes place until December 20. More than 60 photos from her career are on display, including the ones above.

Photo: Jan Persson

About Me

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog! I'm a Swedish alternative model and burlesque dancer who loves vintage fashion, books, art, music and cats. In this blog I share a bit of my own life, but I also want it to be an inspiring place for people who love the beautiful things here in life...